KCAW Services

KCAW-FM is a non-commercial, community radio station owned and operated by the Raven Radio Foundation, Inc. of Sitka, Alaska since signing on the air March 6th, 1982. Sitka is located on the western shore of Baranof Island where the TongassNational Forest meets the North Pacific Ocean. This is an isolated and mountainous area of the Southeast Alaska Panhandle. KCAW’s service area extends from Sitka 50 miles to the south and 250 miles to the north, with translators in the extremely remote communities of Angoon, Kake, Pelican, Yakutat, Elfin Cove, Port Alexander, and Tenakee Springs. This area also includes a number of smaller settlements, seasonal work and recreational areas and commercial fishing grounds. Neither Sitka nor any of the communities served by KCAW are connected by road to either the mainland of Alaska or the lower 48 states, and none of the communities are connected to any other town in the region. Transportation to these communities is available by air and sea only.

KCAW provides essential information services such as Emergency Alert System and AMBER announcements; severe weather warnings and local, regional, state, national and international news as well as entertainment programming to a combined listening population of 11,748. The residents of these coastal communities rely on KCAW for instantaneous information regarding tsunami warnings and storm threats.

KCAW provides a daily, news service to the broadcast area. Local news is provided by a two-person news department. Regional, State, National and International news are provided throughout each broadcast day. Entertainment programming is provided by more than volunteers, along with various national network programs. Volunteer participation and community involvement have always been key components of our mission. Raven Radio currently has more than 1200 members and 100 active volunteers. In the past 20 years, KCAW has trained more than 700 on-air volunteers. KCAW has built a solid reputation for training producers and several former staff and volunteers are now award winning national producers.

KCAW is a committed member of CoastAlaska Inc., a consortium of five Southeast Alaska stations striving to improve service to listeners, while decreasing costs, through inter-station cooperation. Efficiencies created through this partnership include centralized accounting, administrative, development and engineering support as well as cooperation among news departments.